City of Gods [Book 3 of the Teadai Prophecies] Read online

  “Everything’s connected,” Taniras uttered. Thad glanced at the wolf singer but everyone’s rapt attention was on Saldia so he turned back.

  The shade walker looked quite comfortable, much the way Ved’nuri appeared from her throne inside the dome. Saldia held out her palms as she spoke. “Each time the void grows or retreats, the weather changes. Bankari stories of the Great Mother Goddess and the Sea Goddess have been accepted as truth by the Vedi. The relationship between the two goddesses also affects the weather. Taniras’s wolves have even verified some of the tales. Each time a sign of Cholqhuin’s coming appears, something odd happens, like snow where it shouldn’t be or great funnels appearing out of blue skies. When I shade walk, I have to begin with one part of myself and continue to encompass everything I wear or hold in order to become invisible. I think that’s how the void works. It began with one thing, one incident that sparked it’s beginning, and as the others are added, it grows. We all felt the hiccup or retreat when the Bankari swore allegiance to us, right?” Murmurs of agreement. “One piece of the puzzle that had been separated.” Saldia studied those closest to her. “When in the entire Gypsy history have those who harness the Energy turned against the Goddess and lived more than a few years?”

  Finlor turned his attention to the gathered Elders and they murmured amongst themselves. Then he straightened and studied Saldia again. “Not in any recorded history. Until now.”

  “Exactly, Elder. When I was at the dome, Ved’nuri had me study some of our history, things that would teach me the value of the Energy, the honor of harnessing such a wonderful gift and the consequences of disobedience. All the mentions of those who turned against the Goddess or refused to serve Her at their oathings either died instantly or lived only a short while, some completely mad. But nowhere did I read that any lived long enough to create an imbalance in the Energy. The void. The weather. Our very world. We must complete the Energy again and I believe Cholqhuin is a very important part.”

  Thad’s heart thumped against his ribs and chills ran over every part of his body. The fact that he might have died if he’d refused the oaths rattled him but he concentrated on Saldia’s idea. Could it be so obvious?

  Finlor cursed and laid a brief hand on Saldia’s shoulder. “You may very well be correct. We’ve been complacent, shortsighted. While we scattered around the world to gather younglings, thinking of each event as unrelated, the damage has escalated. If Saldia is right, then we must bring Lombreeth back to face his punishment, since he betrayed his oaths, and offer Croferituus the chance to amend her ways and rejoin the Goddess. She will either be accepted or punished.”

  “What about the old god!” someone shouted.

  “He and the Sea Goddess must be reunited.”

  Saldia smiled and nodded her agreement. A sudden vision flashed in front of Thad, obscuring those in the room. Saldia stood in front of a large group of kin on the dome steps. Then everything disappeared. Dome, hill, trees, lake, waterfall. Everything vanished and Saldia stood on a sandy beach looking out to the vast ocean. The vision faded and Thad felt a hand on his arm. He turned to see Taniras studying him. She cocked a black brow and he nodded that he had recovered. This vision didn’t make sense. Why would the Vedi’s dome and everything else disappear? Did it mean the Land of the Goddess was in trouble? Did what Saldia propose today have something to do with it? He must share this vision with the Elders. They would have a better interpretation of it. He felt eyes on him. Cass and Haranda also looked his direction. Finlor had dismissed them and the unoathed were gathering around the Elders now.

  Xiath appeared through the crowd and made his way to Thad. They waited for Siri and the others to join them. The Elder had given the Azure Amulet over to Gwen, and both women’s tinkling hair bangles set Thad’s teeth on edge. What he wanted most right now was solitude. Visions always did that to him and he longed to get away from everyone for a while. But there was no time. The Elders needed to know what he’d seen. And Saldia seemed to be the key.

  Chapter 9

  With the sun in the west and snow still ankle deep, the large group of Gypsies, Sages and servants started for the hamlet. Saldia began to grow ever more nervous. She’d been given orders to shade walk a group of her own and get inside one of the buildings, where Taniras could direct the wolves if they needed them. If the villagers couldn’t be moved by money, they planned a grand demonstration of power tonight, and the full moon would accent that strength.

  Those in Saldia’s group held hands so her Energy could spread and fold over them much easier than if they were disconnected. And she had to keep contact with the others so she could expand her Energy when someone moved. That took more concentration than if they simply rode in a wagon. The cold air didn’t help her focus, either. The Energy put the frigid evening to a distance but her toes, fingers and face would suffer if exposed too long, as would the kin with her. She pulled her cloak tighter with one hand while keeping her other around Ebbi’s gloved, chubby fingers. The girl knew the hamlet better than anyone so she had been assigned to this group as well.

  Unfortunately, Saldia was still the only shade walker among her kin, but her Energy was strong and she had mastered control in most situations. Moving while shadowed no longer gave her as much difficulty as when she first started, though she’d already chided Pim several times for straying. That girl seemed far too eager to go off on her own.

  Her group consisted of Ebbi, the New-oathed Taniras, Thad, Cass, Pim, Tsianina and Bel’keive, the servant hunters Snowy and Camlys, and the twin guards Muroth and Murel, whose massive sizes got respect even from the Bankari. She could tell the twins apart when she used the shade energy to conceal them. Muroth was slightly larger in the chest, something that didn’t show beneath his clothes, and Murel’s feet were a bit longer than his brother’s. Snowy claimed that one had a freckle near his nose but Saldia couldn’t see it. She suspected Snowy of putting a joke on her.

  All in all, she had eleven kin plus herself to conceal. A more complicated task than she had ever managed before today, and she couldn’t afford too many distractions, especially since they had to walk the entire length of the hamlet on icy streets, banked by snowdrifts that reached their knees. Oiled boots helped keep out most of the wetness, but her feet would feel the cold once she released the Energy.

  No full Gypsies had been assigned with them since Thad had enough sparking Energy to set a building to blaze. The wolves were at the singer’s beckoning too, and Tsianina’s nightsight would come in handy once darkness set in.

  All others who harnessed were needed in the larger group in case they had to use the Energy crystals. Eletha hadn’t looked pleased when Saldia’s cluster left camp. That one would as soon live in a tree as a house, but Brak gave her a talking to when she started to complain. Saldia had no idea what the large man said to the little woman but Eletha stopped her complaints immediately. A couple of guards stayed behind to safeguard camp and the Bankari herb mistress kept Henny company, along with several servants who had taken ill from the nasty weather. Gypsy servants were hardy, so illness was another telltale sign that they needed proper housing, and they needed it now.

  All except the prisoners and Ebbi had been oathed now, and they hadn’t lost a single one during the ceremony. Saldia smiled at that. Kin grew in number with each village they visited, it seemed. Hopefully, this hamlet would be no different. She hoped these folks would join when they saw Gypsy Energy workings.

  Once they reached the cobblestones, which were slick with ice, her group moved as one with careful steps. Since they were all engulfed in Saldia’s Energy, they could see each other as they would normally appear. That was what had given Saldia so much trouble when she first began to work with her shade walking Energy. She could see everything the same as always and couldn’t tell with her eyes what she had hidden and what still showed to others.

  Pim started for one of the windows again. Cass and Taniras yanked the girl back and almost toppled the rest of them on the
slick cobblestones.

  Saldia hissed at the girl’s tenacity. “If you can’t stay close, Pim Fargoodes, I’ll let Taniras have you when we’re through.”

  Pim frowned but stayed near. Luckily, no one seemed to be out in the streets today. The few shops had closed up already, but the living areas in back of or above those establishments had middling activity. From the sounds of the taverns, they bustled with people, and Ebbi tensed as they passed the first two.

  Saldia studied the plump child, who nodded to a taller stone building separated from the second tavern by a large alley. This was the tallest by two floors and would allow them ample vision of the hamlet, since nothing flanked it for at least two barn lengths. She led her group that direction, trying not to count her steps, when a small boy in rags and a blanket ran directly in front of her. She sucked in a breath and motioned her group to halt.

  The middling child brushed against her skirts, fell on the icy cobblestones, and scrambled to his feet. They’d practiced for this scenario so no one made a sound. Saldia couldn’t even hear any of her kin breathing. The boy glanced around but when he didn’t see anything, skinny shoulders shrugged and he made careful steps across the deserted street, hugging the blanket around him. He ducked into one of the buildings down the way.

  Saldia let out her breath and cursed quietly. She heard similar phrases from Cass, Taniras, Pim and Snowy. “Let’s get out of this bloody cold.” With careful steps, she led her group to the tallest building. As they huddled in the alley, she turned to Ebbi. “How many live here?”

  “Two. Old whores. Women no wanted. Got diseased.” Ebbi leaned close and her cheeks were red from the cold. “This haunted building.” Her eyes widened. “Ebbi stay out here.”

  “Ebbi will not stay out here,” Saldia said, determined to set the girl straight. She would leave no one outside in this bloody weather, especially a child. “You’re a servant to Cass and she is a Gypsy. Since she takes orders from me, you will to. You understand?”

  The girl nodded, but her lower lip trembled as she looked toward one of the lighted windows. Guilt touched Saldia for frightening her but Ebbi had to understand Gypsy rank if she wanted to stay. She wasn’t old enough to oath into servitude.

  Cass tugged on the girl’s hand until Ebbi turned to her. “Saldia is the highest ranking Gypsy here, Ebbi. We all do as she says. And what we do is for our kin. Specters or no, we’re going inside this building.” She leaned close and Saldia saw her breath in the cold air. “Besides, if two old whores can live with specters then they must not be very good at spooking anyone.” She smiled, which Saldia had rarely seen since they’d met up in Brev.

  “The others chuckled quietly.”

  “That a good logic,” Thad uttered. “I wager a specter has more to be afraid from a Gypsy than the other way around.”

  More quiet snickers and Ebbi seemed to relax.

  Saldia offered a strained smile. Bloody cold out here. We need to get inside. “All right. We do this now. If those women believe in specters, we can give them quite a show.” She had to wave down the chuckles before they could get closer.

  One loose, porch board squeaked like an annoyed rat when Saldia stepped on it, and the others avoided the thing as they made their way to the front door. The handle lifted without resistance and the door swung open without so much as a creak. Someone must have recently oiled the hinges. Thank the Goddess.

  Saldia led her kin onto the stone floor inside, keeping a firm grip on Ebbi’s hand, and waited until someone shut the door behind them and latched it. She followed a short hallway, decorated with various needlework hangings, nine to be exact, into a lighted room where a fire burned and the smell of fresh bread filled the air. These women obviously had a store of food. Probably in a cellar. A painted column stood in the center of this room and she wondered at the elaborately carved symbols. They didn’t look new. In fact, they looked very similar to ones she’d seen on the ancient texts and she nodded her head toward it. Taniras raised a curious brow but no one spoke.

  No footsteps resounded from the level above and Saldia suspected that the entire building was made of thick stone. The stone staircase confirmed her suspicions. Thatched rugs had been laid upon each step, probably more for warmth than decoration from the looks of them. They needed to get to the top floor as quickly as possible, but the stairs were only wide enough for them to traverse in pairs and they wound around as they ascended, with tall narrow windows letting in light. Leaded glass filled the windows to give the outdoors a distorted look, and they were set so that Saldia’s eyes barely reached the bottom of each. Her free hand fell to her belt knife and she took the steps slow enough that everyone could keep contact.

  As the steps wound again and another narrow window let in the waning light, she found herself face to face with a tall woman who looked to be in her thirties. She stopped, but not before the woman bumped into her and fell onto the steps. The lantern in the woman’s hand missed the small thatched rug, crashed to the stone and shattered. Luckily it wasn’t lit. The woman stared in Saldia’s direction with wide eyes and backed up the stairs on her bottom, feet slipping from beneath her skirts.

  “Stop,” Saldia said in a gruff voice. A childish imitation of a specter. She heard Pim giggle and reached behind to slap the girl but someone beat her to it. Probably Taniras. The woman on the stairs opened her mouth to scream. “Quiet.”

  The woman twitched and her eyes darted in a frantic attempt to see who she had confronted. “Specter? Specter, please don’t harm me.” She spoke with a slight accent. “We had no idea you were real.”

  “I won’t harm you if you cooperate?”

  “Yes, specter.” The woman’s head bobbed and her loose hair fell over her shoulders. “Please don’t harm us.”

  That’s right. Ebbi had said two women lived here. “We won’t harm you if you allow us the highest floor in which to reside. This is our home.” Saldia’s throat began to chafe from lowering her voice so.

  “Oh, specter. Forgive us.” The whore smoothed her hair back from her face and her cheeks were flushed even in the dim light of the narrow windows. “There are more of you?”

  “Yes. Many of us. We won’t leave our home.” She motioned the others to make frightening sounds and wanted to thrash Pim for giggling again.

  The whore’s eyes grew wider. “Please, specters. We ask that you go elsewhere. We haven’t harmed anything. We clean this place as you can see. Take good care of it.” She quivered. “We have nowhere else to go.” She began to weep.

  “We can see that you’ve cared for our home. If you wish to stay, you are welcome. But you must leave us the upper floor.”

  The whore sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Yes, specter. But we’ve been using that space.”

  “We won’t harm your things. We just need a place to reside.”

  “Thank you, specter.”

  She actually sounded relieved, and Saldia wondered what she would think once they revealed themselves as Gypsies and not specters. Not the occasion to worry over that. The women’s obedience would do for now. “We will meet the other one now.”

  “Yes, of course, specter. I’ll fetch her.”

  “We’ll follow.”

  “All right. This way.” The whore seemed eager to lead, so Saldia waited until she got to her feet.

  They followed her up the winding stairs to the second floor and down a hall decorated with more needlepoint hangings, though not very good. Obviously, these women had nothing better to do. That would soon change. Whores or no, they could be oathed into service. The Goddess didn’t seem to care about middling rank as long as a person was faithful to the Gypsy cause. How else could a tavern woman like me become a kin?

  They stopped near an open doorway, and from what little Saldia could see, she could tell it was a large bedroom. Her gaze fell on part of an elaborate four-post bed.

  “Please,” the whore said, “let me prepare her. She’s not as strong as I am.”

  “All right.”
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  They waited and Saldia quelled snickers, even from herself. Despite the situation, she felt like she had as a child playing tricks on her cousins. The two inside the room whispered for several heartbeats but finally the second woman, a bit younger than the first, came to the doorway with a look of disbelief on her face. Saldia smiled at Ebbi’s description of old whores. The oldest of the two, the one she’d met on the stairs, couldn’t be more than ten years Saldia’s senior. Hardly old, even by middling standards. And they didn’t look diseased.

  “I see no specters, Valda.” The younger one spoke in an accent but with a higher inflection than her housemate. “You know good and well we made up those stories to spook the townsfolk. This was my great-grandsire’s home. I won’t have you disgrace me in it.”

  “I tell you, Lacy. They’re real.”

  “I see nothing.” She stood no taller than Saldia but gazed hard eyes up at Valda. “Now stop trying to frighten me.”

  Saldia didn’t want an argument on her hands. She had enough to do. “We are here.”

  Lacy froze and one hand flew to her mouth as the other hand made a circular motion over her heart, a protection blessing. This was taking entirely too long. They needed to get to the top floor now. No more games.

  Taniras leaned close to Saldia’s ear. “The others are in position. And the wolves wait for directions.”

  Saldia nodded and made the decision to release the shade walking Energy from around her group.

  Both whores gasped and the younger fainted. The kin must have been quite a sight, still cloaked and hooded against the elements. The women probably thought Death had come to collect.

  “Enough folly.” Saldia still held the Energy, just in case. “Muroth, take that one to her bed. Valda?”